Re: What About Price vs. Performance?

Nathan,

I'm having a hormonal storm, so let me toss this out as a "better
answer" :)

From a technical view point there is a crossing point in the response
time curve in comparing any two platforms.

The post that showed that the more hits, the better response time, goes
back to the S/38. IBM would point out that the more you use something
the quicker it's retrieved.  That's the point of the memory management
optimizer.

This really brings home the point of scalability.  Most systems have a
linear degrading response curve under load.  The AS/400 acknowledges,
and cures it.

Now for something non-technical.  Let's say you are a budding sand &
gravel company.  You start out with a hefty pickup truck and a strong
back.  It works for the 1 & 2 yard deliveries you must make.  Business
grows, you buy another truck and hire someone to load and drive it. 
Your business (volume/hits) grows again and you continue to repeat the
buy a truck / hire a driver (working) formula.

If you stay small enough, this formula is the lowest cost of operation. 
Eventually (if you grow) you will have enough trucks and drivers that
you can warrant people who do nothing but loading those trucks.  Grow
some more and you can buy equipment that is dedicated to nothing but
loading these pickup trucks.

Sooner or later (hopefully) it will dawn on you that 4 pickup trucks
(and drivers) can be replaced by a single dump truck and driver.

So you have to ask yourself: Am I trying to sell a dump truck to someone
who only needs 2 pickup trucks?

Think of a pickup truck fleet as an NT farm and hopefully I've been able
to make my point.



"Nathan M. Andelin" wrote:
> 
> I'm still hoping for better answers.
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